Hey, I know most of the crowd uses 3d Studio Max but does it really make a diffrence? If you have talent it will show no matter what so it doesn't really matter? It just makes the modelers life easier? Btw, there seems to be very little resources for Rhino 3d does anybody know of some links of some tutorials, or some good book titles? Edited by - CtrlAltDel on February 13, 2002 7:25:26 PM

In my never-ever-humble opinion, past a certain point tools _will_ make a difference, depending on what you''re doing.

If all you''re trying to do is show your mastery of animation techniques, then as long as you can make whatever you use (from Maya down to Animation:Master) do what you desire it doesn''t matter. You''re not in a production environment dealing with a specific toolchain with specific requirements, so it''s No Big Deal.

But now, let''s say you have a specific requirement: like you want to export your amazingly cool killer death animation sequence to your friends game engine, and it only accepts .X skinned mesh files.. well, that means you have to use a package that''ll let you export that. Or let''s say you have a polygon budget of 1500 faces.. there are packages that are good at that (Max, Lightwave) and packages that are not (Animation:Master).

So this isn''t so much an answer as a statement of "it depends". For low-poly modelling, excellent export, a bazillion-plus freeware plugins, and penetration in the game industry in general it''s MAX.. for animation for TV, it seems to be Lightwave.. for movies etc. it''s either Maya, Houdini, or a combo of these tools and a lot of custom software.

About a week ago someone asked the very same question on maxforums.org
Everyone (included me) answered that: You make the models, not the software. It doesnt matter at all what you use, just pick one, pick which you have access to, which you can afford, or which you like at a first glance. Except some very special needs Scarab mentioned above, all of them will suit your needs.

Most of the ppl though use MAX...dunno why. Me too. Yesterday I started to learn to use Maya...but I find it a pain in the ass



Edited by - Vikcy on February 15, 2002 1:02:14 PM

I hate max lol I use Cinema 4d and Rhino 3d. But yeah, more than likely if you get a job you won''t use any of these programs - more than likely something on a silicon graphics machine specialized for 3d animation. Everywhere I''ve visited thats of professional level (like, for example, CNN) do not use regular computers for their work. (Yeah, CNN has an entire 3d department for doing all their cool animations and stuff)

- T

Let me answer this way: Do you think Picasso''s paintings would look as good if he only had access to crayons?

Surely not, Anonymus. But...which is the crayon in this case?
ALL !! the top notch 3D softwares are mainly the same. They have more or less the same complexity and possibilities. And naturally when I said it doesnt matter what u use, I meant MAX, Maya, Lightwave and some other PROFESSIONAL stuff

"...de saggitis Ungarorum libera nos Domine"

Thanks....